Chapter 9

Kelly snuck into Tech's lab and saw him tinkering away on some crazy device from under a table. "Dad? What're you doing?"

"Working. This better be something important."

"It is… You're gonna be a grandfather."

Tech wasn't listening, he was busy. "Yeah, yeah, that's great."

Kelly knelt down next to him. "Dad, Austin and I are having a baby."

Tech caught that. He looked at her.

"I'm pregnant."

Tech started to get up. "You—OWCH!" He'd hit his head on his table. He regenerated. "You what?"

Kelly smiled. "I was hoping you'd do that. You remember how full Vamps can't have kids?"

"Yeah?"

"Apparently, half-Vamps can."

Tech smiled. "I'm OK with this."

"Really?"

"I can handle it."

"Great!" Kelly hugged him. "I love you, Dad!"

Sarah rushed in. "Am I interrupting something?"

Tech got up, Kelly following. "Well, your sister's pregnant."

"Really?! So am I!"

"WHAT?!" both coyotes cried, Kelly rather excitedly but Tech kind of confused and a little shocked.

"Benny and I are having a kid and I'm apparently due in the next few months!"

"Man, it must be hard for anthros and Witches to notice pregnancy," said Kelly, "Look at how we keep getting word late!"

"Great," said Tech, "Now both my eldest daughters are pregnant. Anything else you wanna tell me?"

Ryan rushed in with Nadine. "Nadine's pregnant! I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Apparently so."

"You know, as much as our group tends to get every girl pregnant at the same time," said Sarah, "I imagine Brenda and Lucy are getting there, too."

"I wouldn't be surprised," said Nadine. The four future parents ran off to check their theory.

Tech stood there alone. He looked back at his device. "Looks like it's just you and me." BOOM! Tech stood there as dust. "Of course." He disintegrated and regenerated. "I hate my life sometimes."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Sophie finished making cookies. And by that I mean "finished zapping them up."

Gabby started to grab one…

Sophie slapped her hand. "20 minutes to dinner. Let's not spoil it." She went to put down her hot wand.

Gabby crossed her arms and turned around. "I wanted that cookie." The cookie started floating… "I really wanted that cookie."

The cookie started to move toward her…

Sophie whirled around, saw this, and grabbed it.

Gabby sensed these actions and turned around.

As soon as she saw her daughter moving, Sophie stuffed the cookie in her mouth.

Gabby saw her. "Are you eating a cookie?"

"No," Sophie denied through a full mouth. She then saw the others coming and raced to the hall. "Gabby's premature. She's way premature!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Daniella.

"Look at her! She's doing magic right now!" Sophie turned around to see Gabby levitating a cookie subconsciously again. "Oh, not again!" She raced over and took the cookie and hid it behind her back. When Gabby looked at her this time, she gave her a fake smile.

Daniella stared at these events. "Wow."

A couple weeks later…

The gang was collected in the lobby.

Nadine was holding up a big book. "Even if it takes all night, we are going to figure this out!" She dropped the book on the table and opened it. "OK, boy names…"

"Do we really have to read a whole baby name dictionary for five kids?" asked Sarah.

"You're almost due, we might as well do it now."

"Alright. You know what else we should do while I'm almost due? Feed me! I'm eating for two and we're both starving!"

"Come on," said Kelly, dragging her off, "Let's get you to the kitchen ASAP." She pulled her up to the kitchen and they met Ryan there. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting out of going through an entire dictionary of baby names and fixing what's wrong with Rev's inventions."

Kelly snatched the device he was fiddling with. "You don't have Dad's regeneration. Let's not get you electrocuted."

Meanwhile…

Jesse approached Hunter. "When are we gonna kick this plan of yours into action?"

"It starts now. With a little thing I like to call a citywide blackout." He hit a button.

Back at the tower…

The three coyote future parents got into the elevator and hit the button to send it to the lobby. The doors closed.

Suddenly, Sarah started groaning. "Oh, I don't feel so good."

"Well, maybe you ate too much back there."

Sarah glared at him. "When you're eating for two, it's kind of hard to tell."

"Right. Maybe the baby ate too much."

Kelly glared at him.

Before they could get any further with that, the elevator stopped and the lights flickered and went out.

The others in the lobby experienced a loss of light as well.

"Emergency power on," a voice came out as lesser lights turned on.

"Uh oh," said Ryan, "The power's out."

"Uh oh," said Kelly, "That means the elevator's stuck!"

"Uh oh," said Sarah, "I think my water broke!"

"I'm sure Dad can fix it when we get out of here!" Ryan said.

Kelly glared at him again. "She means the baby's coming!"

"How do you know all this?"

"Because unlike every guy on our team—and, surprisingly, you—I stayed awake in health class!"

"So what do we do about this?"

"Well, we'll need boiling water, towels, twine, and scissors."

"Let me check the elevator gift shop." Ryan turned around. "Oh, look." He turned back to his sisters. "THERE ISN'T ONE!"

"Then we'll zap the stuff up!" Kelly reached down to get her wand out of her boot…then realized she was wearing sandals. "Our wands are in the lobby."

"So what do we do now?" Ryan asked over their sister's screams.

"This." She started pounding on the elevator door as hard as she could. "HELP! HELP!"

Ryan stopped her. "That's what I missed in health class?"

Kelly looked at him.

They both started pounding the door and crying out.

The others in the lobby heard this.

"Tell me I'm not the only one hearing that," said Lexi.

"I hear it, too…" Austin said.

"Sounds like it's coming from the elevator," said Sophie, running over there. She pressed her ear against the door. "It's Kelly and Ryan! The elevator's stuck!"

"I thought the emergency power was on!" said Lucy.

"Yeah-but-it-doesn't-power-the-elevator," Rev explained, "it-just-powers-the-lights-in-it-I'll-have-to-go-reprogram-the-generator."

"I'll come with you," said Tech.

"Thanks-it's-at-the-top-of-the-roof."

Tech put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck."

Rev glared at him for a split second and then raced off.

"It sounds like Sarah's water broke," said Lexi.

"HOW'S SARAH DOING?!" Benny cried, "CAN SHE HOLD ON?!"

"I'll ask her," Ryan's voice came through the elevator doors.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"That would be a 'no!'"

Kelly was trying to help her sister. "Just deep breaths, in and out, in and out."

Ryan was doing so. "How's this?"

Kelly glared at him. "Not you! Sarah!"

Ryan stopped.

Kelly knelt down next to her. "Alright, different approach: deep but short breaths. Like this…" She started to demonstrate.

Sarah followed her example and calmed down, resting a hand on her engorged womb.

Kelly, meanwhile, was breathing too shortly and her half-dead heart overreacted to it so she hyperventilated and fell against the elevator wall.

Ryan started to help her up. "Please, one pregnant coyote on the floor is enough." He grabbed her arms and used them as supports to keep her from collapsing. "What should I do?"

"Catch the baby when it comes out."

Ryan dropped her. "SO not happening!"

The elevator opened.

"Oh, good, Rev fixed it," said Sophie.

Michael took one look in the elevator as Kelly and Ryan piled out and immediately recoiled. "OK. It's official. I'm never having kids."

Rev came back down. "All-fixed-everybody's-happy."

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

"OK-not-quite-everyone."

"What should we do?" asked Wendy.

"Call an ambulance, a midwife—" Benny said, pacing.

"There's a blackout," said Nadine, "The roads are gonna be blocked."

Benny looked at Lexi and the triplets. "You guys should know what to do! You've had plenty of kids!"

Wendy looked at him. "Well, I'm sorry, but I was a little too busy screaming TO TAKE NOTES!"

"OK, new plan," said Lexi, "We get some towels and do a home delivery." She pulled Ace, Sophie, and Tech into the elevator. She then dragged in Duck.

"OK, honey, just push," said Sophie, "Push…easy on my hand!"

"Somebody have a blanket?" asked Ace.

Kelly yanked Austin's jacket off. "Here!" She tossed it in.

Austin looked at her.

Sarah's screams stopped when they heard a baby crying.

Benny held up a baby coyote.

Everyone looked at the baby.

"I withdraw my previous statement," said Michael.

Kelly smiled at him.

Benny handed the baby to Sarah as they helped her onto the couch and then handed Austin's jacket back.

Austin just blinked at it. "I'm good."

Benny dropped the jacket on the floor.

"I haven't seen anything this beautiful since Rebekka was born," said Daniella, clutching Rev's hand.

"And it's a good thing the baby came now since I have the name dictionary out," said Nadine.

"OK, we're doing this upstairs." Benny pulled Sarah over to the stairs.

Kelly smiled at them.

Meanwhile…

Jesse looked at her brother. "What does this accomplish?"

"Well, for one thing…security's down at the museum holding our prize."

Jesse thought this over for a second and finally smiled as evilly as she could.

Ten minutes later…

As security guards scrambled through the halls of the town museum, trying to get the emergency power working on the security, two ran down one hall.

The two were suddenly grabbed by the throats and pulled into the rafters. After a few minutes, Hunter and Jesse dropped down instead.

"Well, let's get to it then, shall we?" Hunter rushed over to a stand and pulled off the steel-bound glass as if it weighed as much as a cardboard box.

Jesse then snatched the golden diamond contained inside and rushed off through the shadows.

Hunter placed the glass back in the exact position it had been in before and followed.

They left no trace that they were ever there except for the empty case…

…and the fact that two skeletons, appearing to have been dead for twenty years rather than twenty seconds, still dressed in their uniforms and toting their weapons, were tied to the rafters by the same dark energy that had taken all of their life force in a single moment…